A printed wiring board (PWB) may be electrically grounded to a chassis using a standoff that is in physical contact with the chassis and the PWB. The standoff is mechanically attached to the PWB utilizing a fastener which passes through an aperture contained on the PWB. This aperture may be a plated hole for creating an electrical connection between both sides of the PWB and the standoff.
To prevent solder from filling the plated hole, tape may be applied to the grounding hole. After the PWB is wave soldered, the tape is removed to expose the hole. The taping process is both time consuming and costly.
A need has thus arisen for a printed wiring board assembly that eliminates the need for taping of chassis ground holes and creates a higher quality and more consistent ground area.